Opening Sky
by almightymalik
Summary: This story is a re-telling of "Breaking Dawn" from the point of view of Edward.
1. Prologue

Opening Sky – A Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn fanfic

Prologue

I can tell that she truly loves it, but I can also tell that it is killing her. I want to kill it for hurting her, but she won't allow it. How can she protect something tat's slowly eating her away? It's like death follows her wherever she goes. I can't help but know that I brought much of this on her when I entered her life.

But this time is different from all the other times when I put her life in danger. This time she can't deny that it's my fault because I created it.

So, the new question becomes: can I live with myself for being the cause of her pain and suffering? Already it is more that I can bear.

All she has to do is keep her heart beating just long enough. But what if it fails? What if I fail? I can't continue this existence without her. It hurts too much to even think about it – to even consider the possibility.

So what happens if this _thing_ kills her?


	2. Chapter 1: Engaged

Opening Sky – A Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn fanfic

1. Engaged

The thought that Bella – my Bella – and I were engaged would have sent my heart into frenzy if I had one. I'm still a little shocked that if I had one. I'm still a little shocked that she agreed after having been so strongly against it. At least she agreed to the car. She's the only person in the world who would actually need a car with missile-proof glass and four-thousand pounds of body armor – it can even stand up to a flamethrower. I felt it necessary after all the run-ins that she's had with death. I know I took advantage of our deal that I would replace her truck when I finally gave out. I don't feel guilty about it at all. Besides, it's only a loaner. I'm giving it back as soon as she's a –

I can tell that Bella is sad about Jacob and is worried about him. It seems that every time I tune into Seth's mind, she's calling him, hoping for some tidbit of new information.

I sat with Bella as her father's cruiser pulled into the drive at her house. She couldn't sit still. I held her hands to try to stop her from hiding them as well as the ring – my ring – that sparkled on her left hand. I couldn't figure out why she was so nervous.

"Stop fidgeting, Bella. Please try to remember that you're not confessing to murder here." I tried to reassure her.

"Easy for you to say." She sounded like it might have been easier to confess to murder. I still just couldn't understand her.

We listened as her father, Charlie, clomped up the sidewalk and tried to unlock the already open door. He didn't seem to be in a terrible mood. He was a little disappointed about not finding anything about the wolf, and he wasn't exactly too happy to see me, but that was it. Just the usual.

"Calm down, Bella," I whispered as her heart thumped louder and faster. Charlie slammed the door a little harder than he had meant to, causing Bella to flinch.

"Hey, Charlie," I called. I was anxious for this to be over so that I could officially call Bella mine, but I tried to sound relaxed, for Bella's sake.

"No!" She protested under her breath.

"What?" I whispered back, confused and wondering what surprise she had in store for me now. I thought she had wanted to get this over with, as well, even though for different reasons than myself. Why would she want it delayed?

"Wait till he hangs his gun up!"

I chuckled and ran a finger through my hair. My dear Bella. That was definitely not the answer I was expecting, though it was exactly like her to worry about me, though the gun wouldn't hurt me at all. Still, it wouldn't be a good thing if Charlie tried to shoot me and found out that I was bullet-proof.

Charlie came around the corner in full uniform, gun and all. I know that he knew we would be sitting together, but he still had to try – though failing – to not make a face and his thoughts were filled with disapproval when he saw us together on the loveseat. Lately, he had been making an effort to try and act like he could like me, but in his thoughts, he wished that Bella had picked someone who was less trouble.

"Hey kids. What's up?" He asked, politely as he could.

Here it goes. "We'd like to talk to you," I told him serenely. "We have some good news." Even as I said this, I knew that he wouldn't take it as "good". Already the look of strained friendliness on his face was replaced with a look of suspicion. I could hear a thought forming in his head. I almost wish it was that way.

"Good news?" Charlie growled. He was staring Bella down.

"Have a seat, Dad," She said.

He raised his eyebrows at her then stomped over to the recliner and sat on the edge. His back was rigid with tension. His thought was growing stronger with every passing moment.

"Don't get worked up, Dad," Bella said nervously as the silence stretched. Again I wished that I could hear her thoughts. You think I'd be used to it by now. "Everything's okay," she continued.

_Okay_ was the worst possible word she could have used at this moment. On one hand, the term should have been stronger. I was elated, amazed even, that she would be mine forever. On the other hand, things were not okay, because as the wedding date grew closer, so did the day when she would become the monster that I already was.

"Sure it is, Bella, sure it is. If everything is so great, then why are you sweating bullets?" Charlie was replying. His thought was becoming more pronounced by the second.

"I'm not sweating," Bella lied, or tried to lie. Bella is the worst liar on earth.

Charlie scowled at her and she cringed into me. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand.

I knew what Charlie was going to say, but I don't think that Bella was prepared for it. "You're pregnant!" He exploded. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

He switched his gaze from Bella to glare at me. His hand twitched towards his gun. His every thought was on killing me for ruining his daughter.

"No, of course I'm not!" Bella recovered in time to stop Charlie from shooting. Why couldn't things be simpler, like in the old days, when it was not unnatural for two people to get married young simply because they loved each other enough that they wanted to be together, forever, as soon as possible? Bella had seemed convinced that Charlie would jump to this conclusion. She had been right.

However, Bella's response had seemed to assure him some, so his face softened slightly. Bella is a terrible liar, so it's obvious to know, even for me, when she's telling the truth. "Oh, sorry."

"Apology accepted."

There was a long silence. What was Bella waiting for? Then she looked up at me, panicked. Had she suddenly lost her voice? I smiled, hoping to relax her a little. Then, I squared my shoulders, very human-like, and turned to Charlie. This was something I was completely sure of. This was something I was completely sure of. In the instant I had, I knew exactly what to say.

"Charlie, I realize that I've gone about this out of order. Traditionally, I should have asked you first. I mean no disrespect, but since Bella has already said yes and I don't want to diminish her choice in the matter, instead of asking for her had, I'm asking you for your blessing. We're getting married, Charlie. I love her more than anything in the world, more than my own life, and – by some miracle – she loves me that way, too. Will you give us your blessing?"

I searched his thoughts for his reaction. His eyes were locked on Bella's ring. He hadn't noticed it before, but now his every thought was riveted on it. As he mulled my speech over and its meaning sunk in, his face started to change colors: fair to red to purple to blue. It was like he had forgotten to breathe, though I could hear the air going in and out of his lungs.

Bella started to get up. What did she think standing would do? Charlie only needed a minute to recover from the shock of hearing out loud what he had suspected all along. I gently squeezed her hand. "Give him a minute," I murmured.

This new silence was longer than the last. Charlie kept going over the news in his head, repeating it over and over to himself. Slowly, his skin color faded back to normal. He thought hard about the amount of time that we spent together, the way we looked at each other and acted around each other and he realized that this might be okay. I relaxed, allowing the rest of my mind to focus elsewhere instead of being entirely locked on Charlie's reaction.

"Guess I'm not that surprised," he grumbled. "Knew I'd have to deal with something like this soon enough." Bella exhaled heavily beside me. She had been holding her breath with anticipation. "You sure about this?" Charlie demanded, staring Bella down.

"I'm one hundred percent sure about Edward," she told him. She sounded one hundred percent sure. Hadn't skipped a heartbeat. I was still amazed that Bella could be my Bella. How could she love a monster like me so much that she would deny everything that her mother had pounded into her since day one just to be like me? I don't think I'll ever understand that.

"Getting married, though? What's the rush?" He eyed Bella suspiciously. I could tell he was just as confused as I would have been, were I in his position. Bella wasn't one for change, and now she was making a decision that would change ever y aspect of her life.

I came up with an answer before Bella. "We're going away to Dartmouth together in the fall, Charlie," Edward reminded him. "I'd like to do that, well, the right way. It's how I was raised." I shrugged as a sort of apology. It was the best thing I could come up with. He would be hard pressed to find an argument to that.

"Knew this was coming," he muttered to himself, frowning. Then his face went smooth and blank. _This _new thought was funny. A sick, twisted sort of funny, but from what I knew of Renée, from both Charlie's thoughts and listening to Bella talking about her, this was exactly the sort of thing that would be just a _bit_ difficult for Bella to do.

"Dad?" Bella asked anxiously. She looked up to me for an explanation. I just kept watching Charlie. She would figure out soon enough.

Finally, it became too much for Charlie to handle. "Ha!" He exploded, making Bella jump. "Ha, ha, ha!" Now he was doubled over with laughter. I was trying not to laugh, myself. Bella just looked confused. I may not be excellent at reading her, but I know enough about her to know that she would _not_ expect Charlie to start laughing after she just announced her engagement, especially to me. She looked at me for help, but I couldn't speak. It was getting harder and harder to keep from laughing, let alone to do that and give Bella any explanations. I was afraid that, if I opened my mouth to speak, I would end up laughing. She would just have to wait for Charlie.

"Okay, fine," Charlie choked out when he had finally recovered enough to speak. "Get married." He laughed again. "But…"

"But what?" Bella demanded.

"But you have to tell your mom! I'm not saying one word to Renée. That's all yours!" He busted into another fit of laughter. He barely got that last part out.

I sat on Bella's bed as she sat at the desk to call her mom. I expected her reaction more than Bella, on the basis of her thoughts last spring when we went to visit her, but I figured that I should better let Bella figure that out on her own.

"Mom, I'm marrying Edward." Bella just barely managed to choke the words out.

I listened to Renée's response through the phone. Having super-hearing does have its uses sometimes.

"Well, Bella," Renée said. "I'm a little miffed that you waited so long to tell me. Plane tickets only get more expensive. Oooh," she fretted. "Do you think Phil's cast will be off by then? It will spoil pictures if he's not in a tux – "

"Back up a second, Mom." Bella gasped. "What do you mean, waited so long? I just got en-en…things settled, you know, today." Why couldn't she say engaged? It's not a bad word. I had thought that, now that Renée had accepted the marriage, Bella wouldn't have as much trouble accepting it herself. I guess she's more stubborn than I gave her credit for.

Renée was as confused as I was, but for a different reason. "Today? Really? That _is _a surprise. I assumed…" Her voice trailed off.

"What did you assume? _When_ did you assume?" Now we were all confused. One big, happy, confused family.

"Well, when you came to visit me in April, it looked like things were pretty much sewn up, if you know what I mean. You're not very hard to read, sweetie. But I didn't say anything because I knew it wouldn't do any good. You're exactly like Charlie." Renée sighed. "Once you make up your mind, there's no reasoning with you. Of course, exactly like Charlie, you stick by your decisions, too.

"You're not making my mistakes, Bella. You sound like you're scared silly, and I'm guessing it's because you're afraid of _me_." She giggled. "Of what I'm going to think. And I know I've said a lot of things about marriage and stupidity – and I'm not taking them back – but you need to realize that those things specifically applied to me. You're a completely different person that I am. You make your own kinds of mistakes, and I'm sure you'll have your share of regrets in life. But commitment was never your problem, sweetie. You have a better chance of making this work that most forty-year-olds I know." Renée laughed again. "My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have found another old soul."

This speech seemed to shock Bella. "You're not…mad? You don't think I'm making a humongous mistake?" She asked.

"Well, sure, I wish you'd wait a few more years. I mean, do I look old enough to be a mother-in-law to you? Don't answer that. But this isn't about me. This is about you. Are you happy?"

"I don't know. I'm having an out-of-body experience right now."

Renée had chuckled. "Does he make you happy, Bella?"

"Yes, but – "

"Are you ever going to want anyone else?"

"No, but – "

"But what?"

"But aren't you going to say that I sound exactly like every other infatuated teenager since the dawn of time?" Bella could be so stubborn sometimes. When was she going to realize that everything was going to be okay?

"You've never been a teenager, sweetie. You know what's best for___you_."

In the weeks following that phone call, Renée spent hours on the phone with Esme planning the wedding. It seemed that she really liked Esme. And Esme really liked her back. The only in-law that might have trouble getting along with the others was Charlie, but I could tell that he was making a conscious effort.

Charlie was furious with Renée for taking Bella's side. He hadn't laid it on so thick for Bella because he expected Renée to do it for him. Now she was a traitor and he didn't know what to think. He couldn't exactly chide Bella now since the decision was made on all sides. He moped around the house muttering about not being able to trust anyone. He was really unhappy with Bella's decision on _who_ she was marrying, but as long as she was happy, he would pretend to be happy, at least at the wedding, and he wouldn't bug her about it.

I went home to change and give Bella some alone time to be tortured by Alice. One part of my brain was focused on what would happen after the wedding – the honeymoon and such. The other was focused on Bella and what she was doing now. I listened to what was going on through Alice's thoughts; she was there to do fittings for Bella and Charlie's outfits for the wedding.

"Dad?" Bella called as she went inside. "I'm home." By the time she had said this, I was already in my room at the house.

"Hold on, Bells, stay right there."

"Huh?" Bella asked. She must not have known that Alice was going to be there.

"Gimme a second. Ouch, you got me, Alice."

"Sorry, Charlie," Alice's bell voice pierced the air. "How's that?" She asked him.

"I'm bleeding on it."

"You're fine. Didn't break the skin – trust me." If she had, she wouldn't be in the room anymore. Of course, Charlie didn't understand that.

"What's going on?" Bella asked.

"Thirty seconds, please, Bella," Alice told her. She was just finishing up on Charlie's tux. "Your patience will be rewarded."

"Humph," Charlie added. He was _not_ excited to be doing this; it wasn't his thing. Bella must have gotten her hate of being fussed over from him.

Alice listened to Bella tapping her foot impatiently in the hall, trying not to get distracted by it. Bella can't have been that excited to see her dad. Or maybe it was that she didn't know what was going on, so it was just the frustration of the ignorance. The world will never know. Except for Bella. Every time something like this happens, I can't help but feel that things would be so much easier for me if I could hear her thoughts.

"Okay, Bella, come in," Alice called.

"Oh," I huffed. "Aw. Dad. Don't you look – "

"Silly?" Charlie interrupted.

"I was thinking more like _debonair_."

Charlie blushed. He was one of those people who didn't know how to handle comments well. He wanted to refuse when Alice took his elbow and tugged on it, making him spin in a slow circle, but he didn't want to be rude. He liked Alice. In fact, the only Cullen that he really _didn't_ like was me.

Charlie's tux was pale gray. Trust Alice to make a subtle change that would make all the difference. Even I could tell that the gray looked better on Charlie than a white or black tux would have.

"Now cut that out, Alice. I look like an idiot."

"No one ever dressed by me _ever_ looks like an idiot." Alice had better watch out; she would get too full of herself and then we'd have even_ more _money than we already did. We don't need her to go into fashion designing, though she definitely could.

"She's right, Dad. You look fabulous! What's the occasion?"

Alice rolled her eyes. Bad joke, Bella. "It's the final check on the outfit. For both of you."

Bella's eyes moved to the white garment bag that was on the sofa. "Aaah," she said, practically groaning. I would never know her aversion to looking beautiful.

"Go to you happy place, Bella. It won't talk long." Bella shut her eyes and didn't open them again. Apparently, she was in her happy place and wanted to stay there.

As I watched Alice fit Bella, I thought about what might be in Bella's happy place. I knew that I was, since she had agreed to marry me, but was there something else. Maybe Jacob was in her happy place. Maybe Phoenix or Florida, with her mom. It was frustrating to just sit and guess. Still, she was mine, and that was all I could ever hope for. If the price was that I would never know what she was thinking, then that was okay with me.

My thoughts drifted from Bella's happy place to the wedding to the honeymoon. Finally, when Alice was almost done, I headed back to Bella's house, to be with her again. The only reason I wasn't there now was that Alice wanted to keep me from seeing Bella in the dress in person until she came down the stairs on the day of the wedding. Still, I could wait. It was only a matter of time.


End file.
